KOCHI: A group of theatre activists and directors on Monday protested actor and Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi (KSNA) chairperson KPAC Lalitha visiting Dileep who is on remand in jail and demanded her resignation lest the government oust her. In a statement here, they said by doing so she had publicly supported the star accused of masterminding the abduction and rape of an actress in a moving car. “It is a case compared to the horror of Nirbhaya rape case by the prosecution. We find this as an outrageous act of aggression, lack of graciousness and more importantly a senseless and cruel justification of violence against a young woman. We believe that the primary role of an artist is to make the society a better place to live, a humane, cultured and politically grounded civilised society. It’s so ironical that the chairperson of the topmost cultural institution of Kerala has decided to walk the opposite side of all such artistic concerns and by doing so, she has insulted the entire performing art fraternity in Kerala. We strongly condemn such insensitive action by a person who is holding a respectful post in an institution that is funded by taxpayer’s money,” they said.
Abhilash Pillai, Associate Professor, National School of Drama; Chandradasan, Lokadharmi; Ramesh Varma, faculty, Sankara University; Narippatta Raju, theatre director and actor, Palakkad; Deepan Sivaraman, associate professor, Ambedkar University; Jose Koshi, theatre director and lighting designer, Jino Jose, national theatre award winner, Samkutti Pattomkari, theatre director & visual artist Alappuzha, Sam George, theatre director, Thiruvananthapuram, Rathnakaran, theatre director, Kozhikode; Gopan Chidambaram- faculty, Sanskrit University, Aliyar Ali, theatre director, KV Ganesh, theatre director Thrissur and Martin John Chalissery, actor, Thrissur are signatories of the statement.
“We also oppose in the strongest terms the assumption that a person holding a public position has the right to express personal opinions in support of an accused even if it’s in the case of such heinous crimes,” it said. “We demand her resignation from the office immediately, and if she doesn’t volunteer to do so we request the state government to remove her and reinstate the lost credibility of KSNA urgently” it added.
